@Zeeguy91: You're missing the point. Jean Grey was killed off for years. The Phoenix has had different hosts. Galactus is supposed to be one of the most powerful entities in the Marvel Universe. His appearances are rare. I don't see the relevance in comparing the likes of Galactus, Thanos, Doomsday and Darkseid to active members of the JLA, who appear on a monthly basis.

Hawkeye and Black Widow only had more active roles because the actors are more established than Hemsworth. They're bush league characters and are totally out of place in the Avengers line-up (but that's another story), don't expect to see a Hawkeye or Black Widow movie.

Fair enough on Action Comics but Superman should be in the top 10. He's one of the most iconic superheroes of all time and the first two Superman movies are all time classics and a new generation see him in Smallville. That Superman isn't in the top 10 suggest DC are doing something badly wrong.

@Death Certificate: He doesn't have new powers, he cannot fly or run FTL, he doesn't have telekinesis. The incarnation of Hulk varies depends on the Hulk/Banner dynamic and how angry Hulk gets and when his wife died he got really, really pissed.

Not sure why Superman comics is not selling. The upcoming Superman movie might flop also and I am getting bad vibes from the images and trailers released so far. Dc tends to have more aliens but who are almost identical to humans similar to Marvel's Thor. Dc's aliens are mostly equivalent to humans bec. intermarriage of aliens/humans in dc has never been a problem. Maybe dc having more aliens makes the alien superheroes less relatable. Maybe dc should try changing the origin of Superman to an earth origin and erase krypton. Or maybe say aliens are related to humans to explain why alien/human intermarriage are easy. Dc could also reboot the Legion and turn them all into earth people like the x-men. Or maybe say all the human looking aliens in the universe are somehow related so they are all sort of just 1 species even though they inhabit many planets. I know Stan Lee did not want to make the marvel superheroes too powerful when he was creating them altho I believe giving the marvel superheroes interesting personalities was more crucial in Marvel's success. Aside from Superman being an alien and being too powerful, Clark also has a boring personality and this is true of most of the dc superheroes.

@GypRosetti: They still exist in the history of the Marvel U, do they not? Also, if you're asking about a regular appearing character, then Franklin Richards (a little boy who can literally create universes) appears regularly in Fantastic Four and before that in FF.

They really are not bush league. Black Widow is a huge part of SHIELD and Hawkeye is a classic member of the Avengers. Hawkeye is pretty much on the same level in the Marvel U that Green Arrow is in the DCU: very popular and well liked among fans, but may not be well known to people who don't read comics.

Yeah, they are. They keep giving the Superman title to subpar writing teams in the New 52. First Perez had an awful run, then they gave it to Dan Jurgens who turned out not to be a right fit either, and now (although I haven't read much of his run) Lobdell has his hands on it and launches the title into a huge crossover first thing. I may get back into it when H'el on Earth is over, but until then, I'm only getting Action. Although, I am not enjoying Morrison's current work. Its mediocre to say the best. I can't wait for Diggle to take over.

I don't believe there is any relation between Power and Interesting.

Batman. Karate Kid. Robin. None of them have powers and I find them all pretty boring (except maybe Grayson).

Huntress. Cass Cain. Oracle. No powers but I can't wait to read more of them.

Cap Atom. Power Girl. Green Lantern. Very power characters but I also have no interest in any of them (except maybe PG's chest).

Wonder Woman. Superman. Black Canary. Powers all around and I want to read all of their stuff.

Same deal with Marvel. It just doesn't matter.

Neil Gaiman's Sandman was about very powerful gods and it was interesting.

Batman is not overpowered. He's just the Batman.

Batman is maybe just over supplied with gadgets bec Batman is rich.

But he's The Batman.

Batman sort of also has many powers derived from the many gadgets. Iron Man also has tons of super powers from the armor. Batman is a weirdo and is more interesting than Superman who has zero personality.

I dont quite agree with this,both have strong guys and both have average....

i guess people think of superman for DC and spiderman for Marvel so that is where the perception comes from!

I agree with what a lot of you are saying but let's just get to the point as powerful as superman is Lex or any random thug off the street can end superman with a straight kryptonite bullet to the dome, batman only wins cause he either already know his opponent or he studies them if he just up on a strange villain or hero he would get his ass handed to him. And that goes for marvel characters too just take wolverines head and he's done.

DC characters are suppose to be mythical. Their stories are suppose to be myths (hence why they tend to live in fictional cities which gives them more unlimited feats and exploration of powers) They're not exactly written to be human but you can break them down and give them different dimensions (again its depends whose writing them.) Marvel however reinvented this and gave us more human characters but they are still overpowered sometimes (see Storm.) But then again DC has also very human characters such as Batman, whose probably the most explored character of DC due to the fact that he's a human among the gods.

Well originally a lot of these heroes werent that strong as time went on they were made stronger. So a lot werent meant to be that strong i guess the writers felt the need to keep adding to them and you know things that happen in society and around the world also affect how these characters have changed

Plenty of DC's characters are over-powered, for sure. But does that stop me from enjoying them and the stories about them? Not at all. I've never seen any direct correlation between level of power and level of interest.

there both equal when it comes to overpowerd

spectre beyonder

wally west silver "F*CKING" surfer

superman thor

batman dr doom

darkseid galacticus

kyle rayner juggernaute with gem

hulk-s flash

dr fate dr strange

yeah there equals if this is what you mean

I'm more a marvel reader but I will say that no DC being OP doesn't make them less interesting. Part of the reasons I like DC is because some of their heroes/villains are so fantastic and far removed they provide great escapism when reading comics. I like Superman, Green Lantern, Flash etc all of them are demigods in my opinion.

@ironshinobi88: dont forget SWAMP THING! now thats a demi god

@capfan80: Exactly! The thing that people miss is that it doesn't matter if an overpowered hero's enemies are just as overpowered. If you have a character, such as Superman, who must deal !!ONLY!! with his earthly villains and Clark Kent problems, that's an interesting character. However, if you add every intergalactic villain that Superman has to battle, his stories become what they have over the years: Endless fights, boring villains and plotlines, and most of all, he is BFF with a guy who's bling can create ANYTHING HE CAN IMAGINE. Now, even if you can disprove everything I just said, explain by what logic Kyle Rayner (white, green, etc. doesn't matter) is not the most overpowered character across both universes.. (Excluding Dr. Mannhattan)

DC Villains are pretty strong too...

Really, its just bad writing that under uses the characters abilities. Also, some characters only appear to be overpowered because others have been greatly exaggerated in their abilities. For instance, if a human like Batman can take on superpowered beings, it sort of defeats the point of having superpowered heroes. Its a matter of letting each character be great at something and weak in other areas where another hero would then pick up that slack. Which again just goes back to bad writing and oversight on part of DC.

With all that said, I do want to say that if characters having too much power makes them uninteresting to certain readers, then those readers probably aren't mature enough to understand what that character has to offer. So its as much their problem too as it is bad writing.

Marvel is also overpowered, TOAA, Eternity, Beyonder and Galactus.

Anyone above Superman level is almost boring to read, i remember when cracking continents was impressive but now people like him cracks planets on a daily basis.

Posted by Dex_Starr

DC characters are more interesting than Marvel characters are, that's all I care about.

Marvel characters are more interesting than dc characters.

Marvel tends to focus more on the superheroes that are not overpowered in media and in comics on average then DC but of course marvel does have many over powered heroes too.

OF COURSE IF YOU INCLUDE OTHER CHARACTERS THAT ARE NOT REALLY SUPERHEROES,THEN MARVEL DOES HAVE MORE OVERPOWERED CHARACTERS OVERALL THEN DC.

Marvel has really more overpowered characters on average then dc,but do not get as much focus to mainstream as dc characters on average.

Now i would say dc overall has more overpowered superheroes while marvel has more overpowered gods and cosmic types.

There are many marvel characters that are overpowered and alot that are not just like dc characters .

Hulk,thor and herc as you say are not marvel strongest characters but they match dc strongest.There are some others that are stronger in marvel by the way as well.pre-new52 superman at his best would lose to thor at his best.There are characters that could silver age superman in marvel and dc.

Anyway marvel has the strongest superheroes and characters on average now then dc.

Marvel is much more guilty of this than DC, tbh.

yes they are

Marvel characters are just as overpowered, and no one is complaining.

Also, character's power means jack if his comic is written in enjoyable way. "Too powerful to be interesting" is some shit tier argument.

Guess what...Superman has better stories and more classic stories than most of those street - level characters.

So that just disproves the OP = less interesting theory

Looks at modern DC, looks at modern Marvel:

• Sentry
• Scarlet Witch
• Jean Grey/Phoenix
• Storm
• Thor
• Thanos
• etc.

All of these are very prominent, all of these are blisteringly powerful, and no one appears to think that makes them dull. And DC is in the same boat because the powers are usually not what really sells the character, it's their personality and the struggles writers can throw at them. And no one seems to have any trouble finding something to throw at powerful characters, they've been throwing them at Superman since 1940, and they keep finding things to throw at Thor.

Not at all. DC characters are often extremely powerful, but they are written differently than Marvel powerhouses. They face villains who are just as powerful as they are if not more powerful, so the struggle is even. Also, the characters are still designed to be compelling and make you interested in their story. In fact, their power can even make the story more interesting when written well. Wonder Woman, Superman, The Flash, Green Lantern, etc. They are all extremely power, but they are still considered to be interesting for the most part.

Power level shouldn't matter for a character to be written well. That might even be the point of the character (here's looking at you, Saitama) or an important aspect of the story (e.g. Superman vs Lex Luthor). Even if a writer wants to write about massively powerful beings beating the tar out of each other, they can always introduce another character of equal or similar power (e.g. Green Lantern and Sinestro).

The only time I notice a serious issue like this is when pre-established rules about powerful characters are bent. I think one of the best examples of this is Captain Cold being a problem for the Flash. Seriously, if a character's power level varies that much just in their own comic, something is seriously wrong.

Nope. Marvel has just as much OP characters but they never get called out for it

DC characters are essentially G-ds attempting to gain some of there humanity back, living amongst men. Whilst Marvel characters are genuinely considered to be normal humans with superpowers that struggle against powerful threats. The latter universe being relatable to the viewer as characters like Spider-Man, Fantastic Four fit under that bill. If I had to summarize it DC characters are G-ds borrowing the body of man, Marvel would be mortals borrowing the power of a G-d.

This is probably the reason why people find DC less interesting than Marvel, not to say Marvel is perfect either as they share similar problems with DC but this is the general thought process of readers.

@toratorn: They're not as overpowered as dc characters